MORE than £24,000 has been raised to soundproof a village hall after it was banned from holding discos and parties there.

Loud music was banned at Selwyn Hall in Box after a string of complaints from residents living in nearby Valens Terrace.

North Wiltshire District Council served the notice banning noise over a certain decibel level on August 1 last year.

The members of Selwyn Hall management committee were told they could be fined up to £20,000 or imprisoned for six months if they allowed loud music to be played in the hall.

The committee then had to cancel dozens of events.

"Birthday parties and wedding parties were not able to be held in the hall or anything with amplified music or disco music," said management committee chairman Tudor Jones.

Last August Stephanie Millward was disappointed that she could not hold her 21st birthday party at the hall.

At the time, she said: "I was really looking forward to it and it was a good location but now I will have to look elsewhere."

It is hoped that work to fully soundproof the hall should be complete in a few months and parties will be back in full swing.

"It is all systems go now," said Mr Jones.

"We have the money to make the improvements, address the problem and abate the noise."

A starting date has not been finalised yet but Mr Jones said they are hopeful that the improvements will be finished in three months time depending on weather conditions.

"We have three tenders and we are about to accept one.

"We will then be negotiating with the builder," he said. The work will include installing three new fire doors and replacing and bricking up some of the windows.

"We are going to have a noise abatement machine installed which won't let sound be made above a maximum decibel level," said Mr Jones.

The committee has been raising money and looking for grants for more than six months and is looking forward to getting on with the improvements and inviting groups back to use the hall.

The money has been gathered through a number of different channels including £12,000 from North Wiltshire District Council's area four committee.

The money was granted with the agreement that the hall committee matched the money with a further £12,000.

"We thankfully received £5,000 from Box Parish Council and £4,000 from the management committee," said Mr Jones.

"The final £3,000 was raised through a number of different events including jumble sales, quiz nights and a memorial concert last November."

The hall had been open for 36 years before any problem happened.

But some of the complainants lived within a few feet of the hall and found the amplified noise very disturbing.

Mr Jones said he understood the problems the noise caused.

"The noise abatement notice did mean we had to turn down bookings, but rightly so. We are now addressing that complaint and want to get on with it," he said.

lcanter@newswilts.co.uk